Take My Pulse and Hose Me Down, Heart's on Fire
by serenelystrange
Summary: Just a little fluffy ficlet. Established relationship. Morning schmoopiness. Coulson being Coulson. Tony/Bruce, Coulson, Fury. Title taken from the song "Heart on Fire" by Scars on 45. Hope you like! Feedback is love, and always appreciated, : And please sign in so I can reply and say TY, lol.


A/N – Just a little fic. Established Tony/Bruce relationship. I regret nothing.

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"Time to get up," Bruce says in a sing-song voice, as he kneels on the bed to poke at Tony's ribs.

Tony swats at his hand but keeps his eyes resolutely closed.

"Coffee?" he asks, his voice a mix between sleep-scratchy and hopeful pleading.

"In the kitchen," Bruce replies. He realizes that this is going to take a while, so he makes himself more comfortable on the bed, sitting and facing Tony.

"Too far," Tony mumbles, one hand coming up to rest on his bare stomach, below the arc reactor.

Bruce can't help it, he reaches out to trace his fingers around where the metal meets skin, before covering Tony's hand with his own, slotting their fingers together.

This earns him a quirk of lips, though Tony's eyes are still closed.

"Sex?" he asks, and Bruce is pleased to hear it's only _slightly_ less pleading than the coffee request.

"Later," he promises, "But we have to leave before we can come back."

Tony pouts. "Meetings are stupid," he says.

"And you're a five year old," Bruce says, laughing.

"Mhm," Tony agrees, "But like… the sexiest five year old, ever, right?"

Bruce groans.

"That's not even… you're insane. An insane five year old."

"But sexy," Tony says, full on grinning now.

"Yeah, yeah," Bruce says, before getting an idea.

He leans forward and shakes his rapidly for a moment, letting his still-wet hair drip water all over Tony's exposed skin.

The gets him a badly-aimed smack to his arm and faint cursing, but no closer to actually getting Tony to open his eyes and start the day.

Before he can plan his next attack, Tony takes the opportunity to tug hard at his arm and pull him down to lie beside him. Bruce falls in an awkward heap, but straightens out after a moment and wraps an arm around Tony's waist, closing his eyes and resting his head on Tony's shoulder.

"That's better," Tony says, sounding much more awake than he had just a moment ago.

Bruce opens his eyes to see Tony staring back at him with a mischievous glint.

"You tricked me," he says, trying for annoyed but failing.

"That I did," Tony confirms, shrugging, "Now, shh."

He rolls over so he's half-lying on Bruce's chest, elbows braced at each side of his head.

Bruce catches on quickly and leans up for the kiss he knows is coming, linking his fingers behind Tony's neck.

"You taste like coffee," he says after, raising an eyebrow at Tony suspiciously.

"I may have maybe been awake since you went for the shower," Tony says, giving Bruce his very best _'why are we talking and not still kissing?'_ look.

Bruce laughs and gives Tony a light smack on his head.

"You should have joined me, then," he says, leaning up to bite at Tony's neck gently.

Tony falls from his elbows with an oomp, and he takes the moment to cover Bruce completely with his body, slotting their legs so there's just enough pressure to make them both wish there was nowhere to go.

"You know," Tony says, with a tone that could be called casual were he not moving his hips in a slow grind against Bruce's, "I still need to take a shower."

Bruce closes his eyes against the sensation, trying his damndest to resist the temptation.

"We're already going to be late," he says, but it comes out more of a whimper.

That could be because of the mark Tony is sucking into his throat, though.

"Then what's another hour?" Tony says, once he's satisfied with his handiwork.

Bruce laughs, kindly.

"We're both in our forties, Stark. An hour is a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"

Tony's eyes light up in such a way that Bruce can't tell if he should be excited or worried.

"You say 'a stretch'" Tony says, "And what I hear is a challenge."

"Tony…" Bruce warns, though he already knows he's lost.

"You and me, shower, now," Tony demands, sitting up.

Bruce just glares.

"Please," Tony adds, "Come on. You know you want to."

"You'll be the death of me," Bruce says, but he's already unbuttoning his shirt as he gets up.

Tony strips off his pajama pants and then moves to work on getting Bruce's belt unbuckled and pants gone.

"Never," Tony says, as they finally head to the shower. "I want you alive and well. And preferably never clothed."

Bruce shakes his head fondly at the tone of Tony's voice. It's somehow both off-handed and saccharine at the same time. A Tony Stark specialty.

"Even in the lab?" he asks, unable to resist teasing Tony a little.

Tony stops in his tracks and spins around before Bruce can stop moving, causing them to bump into each other. Tony looks at him with an intensely serious expression on his face and places his hands on either side of Bruce's face, running his thumbs over his cheekbones.

"_Especially_ in the lab, Doctor Banner," he says, before breaking out into a spectacular grin. "But keep the glasses on."

And then he's pulling away and starting up the shower, leaving Bruce to wonder what exactly just happened.

It only lasts a moment though, and then he's joining Tony in the shower, feeling less and less guilty about being late by the second.

They make it to the meeting a little over two hours late. Everyone but Coulson and Fury have left, and Tony can't seem to keep the self-satisfied smirk off his face.

The thing is, Bruce is feeling pretty damn satisfied himself, and not even Fury's glare can lessen it.

"So, what'd we miss?" Tony says, looking over to Coulson with the most innocent expression he can muster.

Coulson stares back with his scary calmness for a moment before sighing and waving them away.

"Just go," he says.

"You're the boss," Tony says, standing and grabbing Bruce's arm to drag him along.

"Actually…" Fury begins, before just rolling his eyes and walking away. Some days, it's not even worth it.

Bruce mouths 'sorry' to Coulson as they're leaving, and Coulson just raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, and Stark?" he says, in a deadpan tone, "You might want to consider sound-proofing your room. Though watching Steve turn several shades of red was downright adorable."

Bruce groans with embarrassment but Tony just nods as he tries to leave again.

"I'll do it tomorrow," he promises. And then they're blessedly free again.

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"Are you really going to soundproof the room?" Bruce asks over the breakfast they skipped earlier.

Tony takes a long sip of his coffee before placing it on the table and giving Bruce his filthiest grin.

"Absolutely not."

Bruce feels bad for half a second, but finds it difficult to feel too guilty when it makes Tony smile so much.

"Didn't think so," he says, before shrugging and lifting his tea to take a sip.

Tony reaches out and runs his fingernails across Bruce's palm, before joining their hands.

They finish their meal in relative silence, and Bruce finds that last bit of lingering guilt vanishes into the irrelevant world outside of them.

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THE END


End file.
